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Science 21 September 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5538, pp. 2246 - 2248
DOI: 10.1126/science.1062574
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Reports

Impact of Landscape Management on the Genetic Structure of Red Squirrel Populations

Marie L. Hale,1* Peter W. W. Lurz,2 Mark D. F. Shirley,2 Steven Rushton,2 Robin M. Fuller,3 Kirsten Wolff1

Landscape management practices that alter the degree of habitat fragmentation can significantly affect the genetic structure of animal populations. British red squirrels use "stepping stone" patches of habitat to move considerable distances through a fragmented habitat. Over the past few decades, the planting of a large conifer forest has connected groups of forest fragments in the north of England with those in southern Scotland. This "defragmentation" of the landscape has resulted in substantial genetic mixing of Scottish and Cumbrian genes in squirrel populations up to 100 kilometers from the site of the new forest. These results have implications for the conservation management of animal and plant species in fragmented landscapes such as those found in Britain.

1 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science,
2 Centre for Life Science Modelling, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
3 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, PE28 2LS, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.l.hale{at}ncl.ac.uk

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